Drug Habits Lead To Prison Terms For 2 Men

Two Bethlehem men who pleaded guilty to stealing to support their drug habits were sentenced to prison yesterday by Northampton County President Judge Alfred T. Williams Jr.

Edwin Ortiz, 33, of 1240 Randolph Road drew a three to seven year sentence in state prison. Ortiz pleaded guilty Jan. 15 to an Aug. 14 burglary at 1012 Tolstoy St., Freemansburg, in which a door was broken down and $1,600 in jewelry taken.

Judge Williams noted that Ortiz, whohad been paroled from the state prison at Dallas before the burglary took place, has been in trouble with the law for many years as a result of his drug addiction.

"Even in-patient treatment programs have not succeeded with you," Williams told Ortiz, "because you have not been committed to them. You're at an age where people are usually off of (heroin), or dead.

"Hopefully, by the time you're paroled, you'll be able to remain free from heroin or other drug dependencies," the judge said.

Ortiz's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Karl Longenbach, said that Ortiz's wife had left him during his previous incarceration, that Ortiz had argued with her and her new boyfriend before the incident, and that he had been laid off from his job. That day, he had been drinking alcohol and had taken Valium, heroin and marijuana, Ortiz said.

Ortiz was due to receive a paycheck from his former employer a few days after the burglary.

The victims of the burglary, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Romanell, appeared at the sentencing. "Someone invading our home - that's hard to accept," said Mrs. Romanell. She questioned what had happened to the rest of her jewelry. About $200 to $300 worth of the jewelry was recovered by police.

Freemansburg Police Chief Frank Vigilanti noted that after Bethlehem police apprehended Ortiz shortly after the break-in, he led them along the path he had followed from Freemansburg to his home. Any jewelry not recovered had been dropped along the way by Ortiz, Vigilanti said, and had disappeared by the time police retraced his steps.

After the judge explained to him his rights to appeal the sentence to the state Superior Court, Ortiz said he planned to appeal, but asked for another attorney, saying Longenbach had inadequately represented him.

The judge granted his request, appointing attorney Jack Panella to represent him and delaying his transfer from the county prison to the diagnostic center at Graterford State Prison for 10 days to allow Ortiz to meet with his new attorney.

Ivan Serrano, 24, of the 500 block of Broadway, who pleaded guilty to the theft of costume jewelry from the girlfriend of a friend, was sentenced to eight months to two years in county prison on the theft charge, and a concurrent sentence of 10 months to two years for attempted escape from Easton Hospital.

Serrano was taken to county prison after his arrest for the Aug. 8 theft, and when a guard took him, shackled, to Easton Hospital for treatment that night, Serrano attempted to escape by climbing into a suspended ceiling.

Williams noted that Serrano, who according to a pre-sentence report prepared by the county Adult Probation office has been on drugs for about 12 or 13 years, had a $200-a-day heroin habit when he was arrested.

"You can't survive that kind of habit without crime," the judge told him. "When you get back on the street, it's going to be difficult for you to stay off."

A condition of his release on parole will be enrollment in an in-patient drug treatment program, Williams said.